


If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting

by maplestreet83



Series: when summer's gone, where will we be? [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, I still don't know how to use tags, Missing Scene, Post-Battle of Starcourt, Talking, in the background of a scene, or more correctly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:53:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23132743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maplestreet83/pseuds/maplestreet83
Summary: Lucas finds Max outside the burning Starcourt Mall and figures he should talk to her.[takes place in the background of the post-battle scene of s3e8]
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair
Series: when summer's gone, where will we be? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1662760
Comments: 5
Kudos: 35





	If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first part to a series of oneshot fics taking place post season three. I've been writing down small unrelated stories and scenes and ideas since July and I figured I'd start posting them as series so I can tag them all appropriately. I have a couple already written but with more news and info about s4 coming out, I might be inspired to write more ones for different characters and dynamics, we'll see! For now, here's the first fic, taking place during s3e8.

It was all a blur. A blur of flashing lights and sirens, broken glass, smoke and the loud whir of helicopter rotors filling the July night. Lucas was walking through it all, shielding his eyes from the rain that was picking up, bringing his hand up and wincing as he moved it in a way that made the freshly patched up wound on his palm sting. He hadn't even noticed the burn he had gotten from a lit fireworks fuse until the paramedics had looked them all over in one of the ambulances. The whole mall parking lot was full of them now, along with helicopters, fire trucks and military vehicles. He was just walking away from one of the army trucks now, having radioed Erica and Dustin who had just been picked up by a helicopter and were on their way back now. 

Lucas had to stop in his tracks and step out of the way as a group of firefighters ran past him and towards the entrance of the mall where smoke was continuously billowing out. The whole scene was filled with people now, and as he kept walking, looking over the parking lot, Lucas saw some of the military people putting up barriers and caution tape to seclude the area, as there was a steadily growing crowd of curious people gathering on the edge of the parking lot to see what was going on at the mall. He wondered how in the hell doctor Owens and his people were going to explain all of this this time. Also, how in the hell was _he_ supposed to explain this to his parents? He'd told them he was at Mike's and then at the fair, but now with Erica being involved in this whole mess too? That was going to be one tough conversation when they got home. 

Deciding it was something to worry about later though, Lucas wrapped the blanket the paramedic had given him tighter around himself as he got to the row of ambulances parked side by side next to the mall entrance. Everyone's wounds had pretty much been tended to already, so now they were all just there, sitting on the open backs of ambulances and standing around, wrapped in blankets, trying to make some sense of it all. Mike and El were sitting together, leaning on each other at a back of an ambulance. Despite all the craziness going on around them, the two of them looked like they were in their own little bubble, leaning their bandaged faces close together, quietly talking amongst themselves, their hands clasped together above the blankets. Jonathan and Nancy were sitting inside another ambulance, looking dead tired, and Will was sitting with them, his eyes scanning the crowd of soldiers for something. Had his mom not come back yet? 

"Hey," Lucas said to him as he got closer, and Will jumped just a bit, his concentration broken, and looked over at Lucas. 

"I'm sure she'll be back soon," Lucas reassured him and Will nodded tightly. 

"Yeah, she will," he said, more to himself than to Lucas, turning his attention to watching the parking lot again. With one last encouraging nod Will's way, Lucas kept on walking, Steve walking past him, holding an ice pack up to his eye. He just managed to get his face beaten in every single time, it looked like. 

"They're on their way here," Lucas told him as he walked past. Steve turned to look at him, bringing the ice pack down from his swollen eye. 

"Dustin and Erica," Lucas added, seeing the confusion on Steve's face. 

"They are?" Steve asked, sounding relieved. 

"Yeah, they're on a chopper right now, just called them," Lucas confirmed and Steve nodded, letting out a breath of relief, bringing his hand up to wipe hair away from his bandaged face. 

"Okay good, good. And they're both okay?" he asked, worried and Lucas nodded. 

"Yeah, sounded like it. Told them you were okay too," he assured him and Steve nodded again. 

“Great, great. I’ll umm, go and wait for them then,” he said, rambling on as he continued on his way, walking past Lucas, lifting the ice pack back to his face. 

Turning to look ahead again, Lucas saw the last of the ambulances, the one he’d been patched up in. The paramedics were standing next to the ambulance, smoking cigarettes as they talked, looking confused and worried as they looked up at the smoke billowing out of the crashed open mall roof. A couple of feet from them there was a gurney Robin was leaning against. And next to her was Max, sitting cross legged on the gurney, wrapped in blankets, holding an ice pack to her face. Lucas shifted in place. With everything that had happened, he had had no time to talk to her, to see if she was alright. Which, he realized and immediately mentally kicked himself over, she obviously wasn’t after everything that had happened. He sighed, looking over at her, and tried to read her expression to see if this was the right time to talk to her. She’d gone through a lot, they all had, and he didn’t want to mess this up. But he couldn’t read her face, half obstructed by the ice pack, as she too was looking up at the flames and smoke rising from the mall, the spritz of rain falling on her face. Figuring this was as good a time as ever, Lucas made his way to the gurney across the wet pavement. 

“Hi,” he simply said as he got closer, Robin turning her head to look at him.

“Hey,” she answered, moving aside a bit to make room for him.

“They got you all bandaged up?” she asked as Lucas settled to stand in front of the two of them. He wasn’t quite sure him going straight to sit next to Max was the best thing to do.

“Yeah, nothing much, just a small burn on my hand,” he explained, trying to brush it off. He’d gotten off easy compared to most of them. 

“From the fireworks?” Robin asked, tilting her head and at that Max finally turned to look at him too. 

“You okay?” she asked, looking at his bandaged hand, her brows furrowing. 

“Yeah, it’s nothing, really,” Lucas said, waving his hand and Max flicked her gaze up to meet his eyes, her brow still furrowed, her lips pressed together. Was she mad at him?

“Well in either case, that plan of yours was awesome! How did you even come up with that?” Robin asked, her eyes wide, jumping up to sit on the gurney next to Max. 

“Oh, thanks,” Lucas said, reaching his hand up to scratch the back of his head. He was proud that his plan had worked as well as it did, but he still felt weird about it, sensing Max’s eyes on him.

“Just saw those fireworks at Big Buy and thought to grab them, just in case we needed some backup for El,” he explained, shrugging, trying to play it cool. He didn’t want Max to think he was rubbing his plan’s success in her face, not now.

“That was such a genius idea! I could’ve never come up with that,” Robin gushed, wrapping her blanket around herself better, looking over at Max for her reaction. Lucas turned to her too, pressing his lips together, anxious. Obviously Robin didn’t know about their argument about the fireworks so she didn’t know bringing them up wasn’t the best idea. Lucas

opened his mouth, about to say that it wasn’t really a big deal, but Max spoke before he could.

“It really was,” she said, nodding at Robin before turning to look at him.

“I’m sorry I was giving you shit about your plan. You really saved all our asses with it in there. Thanks," she said, honesty and sincerity on her tired face as she looked at him, her blue eyes holding his. Lucas looked down at the tips of his dirty sneakers, his head feeling all airy. How did she manage to do that? Every freaking time? 

"It's nothing, really. It was a pretty ridiculous plan, I was as surprised as anyone that it worked," he said, shrugging as he looked back up again.

The three of them fell into silence then, catching their breaths after everything that had happened, looking around at the busy parking lot. The whirring noise around them got louder and they all looked up at the dark sky where another helicopter was nearing, its bright searchlight beaming down on them, making them bring up their hands to shield their eyes. 

"Even more military people? They’ve got the whole national guard in here!" Robin exclaimed, speaking up over the loud noise. 

"It's probably Dustin and Erica," Lucas said and at that she looked away from the helicopter and at him. 

"Really? On a chopper?" she yelled over the noise and turned to look up again, letting out an impressed whistle. 

"Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by anything after today,” she said, jumping off of the gurney. 

"Gonna go and check on them," she said and then she was off, hurrying towards the helicopter landing across the parking lot, raising her hand up to her face to shield it from the rain and gusts of wind made by the rotors. Lucas's gaze followed her as she walked away but soon he spotted Will, running across the wet and shiny parking lot, going to hug someone Lucas soon noticed was his mom. Relief flooded him at seeing she was okay and he turned to look at Max to tell her they'd gotten out of the base okay. But Max had her eyes cast on the smoke and flames again, biting her lip as she continued to press the ice pack onto her face. Lucas took a careful step forward, turning to sit himself down on the gurney, making sure to leave enough space between them. He leaned his elbows on his knees, worrying his hands together. What should he even say? 

"You okay? Your face?" he settled on after a while and Max nodded. She lowered the ice pack from her face, setting it on her lap as she turned to him. 

"It still stings like hell, but I guess it's okay. They said it's gonna bruise but I won't have a black eye or anything," she explained, lifting up her hand to gently touch the bandages covering her reddened cheek. 

"Well that's good. I mean, you could've matched with Steve though if you did get one," Lucas commented, trying to lighten the mood. He wasn't sure if it was the rain or the pulsing ambulance lights but he was almost sure he saw the tiniest hint of a smile on the corner of her lips. 

"Yeah, you're right," Max simply said, lifting the ice pack to her face again and then they fell into silence. Another group of firefighters rushed past them and into the mall and Lucas saw that El had gotten up from where she had been sitting with Mike, slowly walking towards where Will and his mom were. Probably on her way to see Hopper.

"Hey," Lucas said, glancing at Max from the corner of his eye. 

"Hmm?" she hummed in response, keeping her eyes down on her sneakers. 

"If you want to… If you need to talk to someone about all this, about anything… I'm here to listen. You know that, right?" 

"Yeah, I know," Max said, nodding, her gaze still cast down. 

"I just…" she continued, switching the hand that was holding up the ice pack. 

"I think I need a little more time before I can do that. Everything's just… so much still," she explained and in her tone Lucas could hear the weight of everything that had happened these past days weighing down on her.

"Oh, that's fine! I'm not saying… I didn't mean right now, just… When you're ready," Lucas rambled out, gesturing with his hands awkwardly as he did. He'd had to go and mess this up too. But to his surprise Max didn't seem to mind as she glanced at him, her face worn down and tired, but a tiny, appreciative smile lingering on her lips. 

"Thank you," she simply said, looking over at him and Lucas looked back, about to say that she could take as much time as she needed, that he understood, but he didn't have the time. As then their attention was drawn to the tense and confused voices and pained cries coming from where Lucas had just seen Will, his mom and El and then there was no time to continue the conversation as they were plunged right back into the horror these past few days had been. And now with these news, what the next days and weeks would be too. 


End file.
